CHEAT LAKE Bass tournament

Bass tournament success has been very good again this spring. Cheat Lake is usually one of the best lakes for tournaments. The easiest way to fish the lake is along the shoreline to a depth of 10 to 15 feet. Crankbaits and tube jigs are good artificial baits while a nightcrawlers or minnow on a hook with a couple of split shot are always productive. The fishing piers in the embayments at the West Penn Recreation Area are good spots for bank anglers. These areas will be warmer than the main lake and good for largemouth bass and bluegill all month. Use a small rooster-tail spinner for bluegill.

Cheat Lake is a 1,730-acre lake in Monongalia County, currently contains a good population of fat, eating-sized walleyes, fish that are a result of stockings made a few years ago.

A lake with a history of acid mine drainage contamination, game fish populations have been on the rebound in Cheat Lake for a number of years. First to be noticed was the largemouth bass fishery. The lake is now one of the better largemouth lakes in the state, according to results of bass tournaments held there. Walleyes may soon be stealing some of the limelight."Cheat Lake has a lot of walleyes in the 16- to 18-inch range," biologist Hederick reported.The DNR hopes to establish a self-supporting walleye population in the Cheat. Cheat Lake is near Interstate 68, six miles northeast of Morgantown.

While the American-bred largemouth bass holds court over millions of U.S. anglers, another magnanimous sportfish oversees a much mightier kingdom. Ordained the world’s most popular freshwater sportfish, only the carp...
Read More